The Soul of the Demon
by Loxlighter
Summary: You didn't think Cole was really dead, did you? An emotionally scarred young man from the future may be the Charmed Ones’ only hope. Unlike certain cousins, he is no angel.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer – I have no rights to the Charmed Universe. I'm just playing around in it.

This story is set early season 7.Mostly canon up till that point.

Phoebe helped Piper off the floor. Paige rose slowly from behind an overturned table. The attic was in ruins, which wasn't really all that out of the ordinary.

"We've really got to get that guy," said Paige.

"How?" Piper asked. "That was a power of three spell and the most powerful potions we could brew."

Phoebe was getting sick and tired of this. The mysterious demon had appeared a month previous and had been harassing the girls ever since. He was short, pale, skinny, appeared human and always wore a dark coat and fedora. He never said a word…he just attacked relentlessly and at the worst possible times. After he caught her unawares at work and trashed the Daily Mirror newsroom, Phoebe had taken a sabbatical. It had gotten to the point where they couldn't risk being alone, or going out in public. The demon, whoever he was, was not mentioned in the book of shadows and yet he was clearly extremely powerful. They had managed to drive him off after each attack, but they weren't sure how long their luck would hold.

"Leo," Piper yelled.

The elder appeared after a moment, looking anxious.

"He attacked again, didn't he?" asked Leo.

"Uh, yeah," said Paige as she gestured to the scattered papers and scorched furniture. "Please tell me you found something about this guy."

Leo grimaced. "I did…he goes by Mace. Apparently he's been here for a few months gathering information about you all in the underworld and…" there was a long pause.

"And," Piper said after a long pause.

"We're pretty sure he's from the future."

"The future," said Phoebe. "Did I ever mention how much I hate time travel?"

"There's more," Leo said, "We think he's drawing power from his own time, which is destabilizing the balance of the Universe."

"From his own time," Paige said, "so that's why we can't vanquish him."

"Wait, why?" Piper asked.

"Because if he's still connected to the future he's not really in sink with our time, and we can't vanquish a demon that doesn't really exist yet," Paige explained.

Phoebe felt a head ache coming on. She sometimes felt like some malevolent power was just making this all up as they went along.

"So how do we vanquish him?" Piper asked practically.

"You can't," Leo said.

"Um, then what do we do?" Phoebe asked

Leo shook his head. "I'll keep digging," he said and orbed out.

The girls looked at each other in consternation. Paige's face scrunched up in one of her thoughtful expressions.

"Wait," Paige said. "If we can bring someone back from the future with the same kind of link back to their own time, then they would be able to vanquish him."

"I don't know," Phoebe said, "remember what Chris always said about future consequences."

The other sisters looked at her like she'd grown a second head.

"What," Phoebe said, "Chris isn't here to say it any more so somebody has to."

"I don't think we have a choice," Piper said, "Otherwise I don't think we'll have a future."

Phoebe nodded reluctantly. The girls conferred for a few minutes and worked on a spell.

"Ready," Paige said when they were finished.

They spoke as one:

"_We call upon the ancient power_

_To draw to us upon this hour…_

_From future time and distance space_

_The one best suited to Vanquish Mace"_

In a twirl of light a man appeared, facing away from them. He slowly turned around; he looked to be in his late twenties. He had short dark hair and a couple days worth of stubble. His green eyes were slightly blood shot and there were dark splotches under the eyes. He wore a brown leather jacket over a black tea shirt and a pair of beat up jeans.

He looked disoriented for a moment, but then his eyes focused on Phoebe.

"I thought I told you I wanted to be left alone," he said with a withering glare.

Phoebe felt a stab of confusion and hurt. Whoever this man was, he clearly knew her and hated her. Why?

The man's expression went from angry to confused. His eyes went to each of the sisters.

"Why do you all look…oh no…this is…you've gotta be kidding me."

"Hi," Piper said in her best chipper voice, "you obviously know who we are, which makes things easier. You're in the past, the year 2004."

The man sighed and rubbed his face.

"Um," Phoebe said hopefully, "Did you maybe mistake me for someone else?"

He gave her a level look.

"Anyway," Piper said quickly, "you do know who we are, right?"

He smirked. "Of course," he said, "who hasn't heard of the all powerful 'Charmed Ones'?"

"Well good," Piper said, "you see we need your help…" the man laughed.

"You need my help… that's rich," he said.

The sister's looked at each other in concern. Just what kind of "help" had they summoned?

"Who are you and why are you so mad at us," Phoebe asked bluntly. They really didn't have time for this.

He half smiled. "Can't," he said, "future consequences."

The girls stared incredulously.

"What is that like in the future-person handbook?" Paige said.

"Fine," Phoebe said, "we just need you to help us vanquish this demon. You see he's from your time and, apparently, only someone from your time can kill him."

"You've got the wrong guy," he said bitterly.

"Not according to the spell we don't," said Phoebe. "We asked for the one best suited to vanquish the demon and you showed up."

"I can't," he said.

"You don't get it," Phoebe said, "We really, really need your help."

"No, you don't get it," he said. His stare was so intense she felt like she would go blind. "I can't because my powers were bound…at birth. I don't even know what they are."

Phoebe looked at her sisters in confusion. They shared her befuddled expression. Why would the spell send them someone who couldn't help?

"But…" Piper said, "Why?"

"Let's just say my mother never had a lot of faith in me," the man said. He glanced at Phoebe when he said it.

"But, what do you mean" Phoebe asked.

He smirked sardonically, a distant look in his eyes.

"Sins of the father…" he said cryptically.

"Was it to protect you?" Piper asked, "Our Grams did the same to us."

He shook his head sadly.

"From myself, she would say. But she was lying. No, it was because she thought I would turn evil," he said.

"At birth," Phoebe said, appalled. What kind of a mother would think that of her child? "Why would she think that?"

The man sat down on a stool and rested his head in his hands. "Chris would probably tell me I shouldn't say any more; that I needed to worry about what would happen if I changed the time line too much. Might even write myself out of existence. But you know what…" his eyes glistened as he looked back up at the girls, at Phoebe. "I don't care."

"Wait," Piper said, "You know Chris? How is he?"

"Perfect," the man said in a tone that implied anything but. "Chris, Wyatt, Prue, Penelope, Patricia, Phylicia…they're all perfect."

Something was really off with this young man, Phoebe thought. Even without her empathy powers she could feel the anger and resentment pouring off of him as he listed off the names.

"You never answered my question," Phoebe said softly.

He stood back up. "My mom didn't trust me," he said, "because I'm one quarter demon." His glare seemed to intensify as it washed over the girls, as though he dared them to cast judgment.

Phoebe felt queasy. There was something at the back of her mind; a sinking feeling that hadn't quite solidified into thought. After a long, awkward silence Paige was the first to speak up. "Well that means you're three quarters human, right – so definitely more good then bad. And since we need your help we can just unbind your powers."

He shook his head. His voice sounded haunted when he said, "I'm not entirely sure she wasn't right."

"Who is your father?" Phoebe asked quietly.

He smiled a small sad smile. "Let's just say rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated…again."

"What is your name?" Phoebe asked, even more quietly.

His voice was toneless, almost dead. "Victor Turner Halliwell," he said.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to all the people who left reviews. This is my first fanfic and I wasn't sure how many people would actually be interested in reading, but the positive response I received convinced me to keep writing. Please continue to R&R. All comments and suggestions are welcome.

Ch. 2 -

Phoebe was thunderstruck. Victor Turner Halliwell; that could only mean one thing. "You're my son," she said breathlessly.

"Technically," Victor answered. His beautiful intense green eyes were narrowed to slits.

"And Cole…" she started.

"Any other half-demons you're likely to screw?" he said.

"Hey," Piper scolded. "Don't you talk that way to your mother!" She walked up and wagged a finger in his face. "I'm getting sick and tired of people being blamed for things they haven't done."

The man actually smiled at that, the first time his expression broke from a glare. "It's good to see you haven't changed Aunt Piper."

Piper's expression gravitated somewhere between confused and curious.

"I was going to say," Phoebe said quietly, "Cole's still alive?"

Victor sighed. "I really shouldn't say any more," he said. "Look, Aunt Piper's right. You haven't actually done anything to me yet – so it's not fair for me to blame you." He ran a hand through his dark hair. "But you really shouldn't have brought me here. I'm not your man. Send me back to my own time and call someone else."

"Um," said Paige, who had watched the scene in open jawed silence, "There is kind of a little problem with that." She actually made the gesture of holding something tiny.

Victor swiveled his gaze to her and raised an eyebrow. His mouth tightened in a frown.

"You see," Paige said, "when we brought you back we kind of linked up your destiny with the demon, so that you're now in sync with him. So you can't actually go back until he is, ah, vanquished." She smiled a sheepish smile. "Sorry," she said.

"Unbelievable," said Victor. He walked out of the room and down the stairs. The girls followed. He was obviously going for the door.

"Wait," Phoebe said, "Where are you going?"

"Out" Victor answered.

"But you don't know anything about this time," said Phoebe.

He stopped at the door and turned around. "You didn't strip me of my ability to read a history book," he said.

Phoebe felt miserable. How could she mess up so badly? This was so much to deal with. The idea that Cole, her Cole, the only man she'd ever really loved, was back – or would be. That alone would have been enough to throw her threw an emotional ringer. Did she want him to be back? Was she frightened or hopeful? Would she have to vanquish him again or could things actually work out this time? And her son; her son hated her. He was so beautiful, but so scarred; so bitter. She'd always just assumed that when she had kids she would be a great mother. She loved kids. Kids loved her. She started to cry.

Victor's mouth opened as though to deliver another cutting remark, but on seeing Phoebe cry his mouth closed and his eyes widened. He took a half step forward before awkwardly stopping. "Mom, I…" he cut off as three demons shimmered in behind the oblivious sisters.

Victor pushed his mother to the ground as he charged the nearest demon. His athame flicked instantly to his hand and with well practiced ease he thrust it into the demon's heart. The dead demon flamed out and Victor turned his attention to the other two. They each had a fireball in hand and were prepared to throw it. Victor waited for it, and dropped to the ground the moment they released their attacks. The demons' fireballs flew past each other and destroyed them both.

He looked over at the girls. They had recovered themselves and Piper had her hands extended in readiness to make something explode.

"You're pretty good at fighting demons for someone without any powers," said Paige.

"I have to be," Victor answered shortly. He looked to Phoebe. "I need money."

"What?" Phoebe asked, surprised at the sudden change of subject.

"Money," Victor said. "My currency from the future is no good to me here."

Phoebe grabbed her purse from the nearby table and fumbled through it. She handed him whatever there was without counting.

"Thanks," he said and before any of the girls could say anything more he walked passed and out the doors.

Phoebe stared after him as he left. She turned back at her sisters; her eyes distant – lost.

-- change of scene --

Victor paid the cabbie and stepped out in front of a nightclub called Underworld. Its owner had a sick sense of humor. Victor walked passed the leather clad patrons and to the head of the line. One of the two door bouncers, a huge lumbering lummox of a man, glared down at him in what he probably thought was an intimidating scowl. It actually made him look like a chubby child in the throws of a temper tantrum.

"Back of the line Pal," he said.

"Mr. Trent is expecting me," Victor answered, "V. Turner."

The man glanced down at his list and nodded to his equally bulky compatriot.

"Right this way," the other man said and led him through the doors, passed throngs of people and up several flights of stairs. The place had three levels, each with its own bar and dance floor. The décor and music were both dark industrial.

A glass enclosed platform office overlooked the dance floor on the third floor. The bouncer led Victor up the stairs and to door marked "Mr. Trent" in gold letters. The bouncer opened the door, ushered him in and then vanished in the literal demonic sense. This left Victor alone to stare at the back of a black leather desk chair. The chair twisted around to reveal a middle aged man clad in a fashionable black suit, black shirt, and black tie – all of which served to set off his shock of unruly white hair. The man regarded Victor with a raised eyebrow.

"I trust everything is going according to plan," Trent said.

"I'm here, aren't I? Though you might have warned me when it would happen," Victor said. "I was a bit disoriented at first."

"And your, um… family?" Trent grimaced as though he found the very the word distasteful.

"They know who I am," Victor answered, "But they have no idea what's really going on," He finished.

"Excellent," Trent said. "Well it appears I have fulfilled my part of the bargain. Now it falls to you to fulfill yours. Are you quite sure you can go through with it? I have observed most humans have some affection for their blood relatives. Can you truly betray your own?"

Victor simply nodded, and the demon broke out into a wide satisfied smile.


	3. Chapter 3

Phoebe, her eyes bloodshot and face exhausted, hunched over the map in the attic with her scrying crystal.

"Where is he?" she muttered for perhaps the hundredth time.

"Sweety," Piper said upon entering the room, "maybe you should take a break and get some sleep. You've been at this for twelve hours."

"How can I sleep," Phoebe asked. "My son, who hates me, is out there somewhere getting into god knows what kind of trouble and I'm not there to help him."

"He seemed pretty good at taking care of himself," Piper pointed out.

"That's not the point," Phoebe said. "I need to talk to him, find out more about what kind of person he is and how I can be a better mother the next time around."

"Phoebe," Piper said, "I'm sure you had a good reason for doing what you did."

"Did I?" said Phoebe hotly, "I suppose it was my son's fault then that I didn't trust him as a baby. My god, Piper, the first thing I did, do, when he comes into the world is to hurt him. He's right to hate me."

"Binding doesn't hurt and you don't know the circumstances…" Piper started.

"I don't care," Phoebe said. "I'm not going to do it this time and that's that."

The familiar jingle of orbing filled the air. Phoebe looked over to see Leo.

"Where have you been?" Piper demanded, "We've been calling for you since last night."

"I'm sorry, I was unreachable," Leo said, "you aren't going to believe what I found out?"

"Oh," Piper said, "I'm pretty sure I can give you one better."

Leo looked curious but he continued. Then he looked at Phoebe.

"Are you alright?" Leo asked.

"Um," Phoebe said, "not really. What did you find out?

"Mace isn't real."

"What do you mean, not real?" Piper asked.

"I had an associate look into his past," said Leo, "or rather his future, so see if we could find a weakness or some other info we could use. And it turns out he has no past, or future. He came into existence the moment he 'arrived in the past.'"

"But that doesn't make any sense," Phoebe said. "If he came into existence in our time then he would be from our time, right?" The headache from thinking too much about time travel started to return.

"Not if the spell that conjured him was cast from the future," said Leo.

The silence lasted a moment as they all absorbed this.

"How is that possible?" Piper asked.

"It's complicated," answered Leo, "it would involve a lot of ritual but, theoretically, if you can send a regular person into the past, you could send a spell as well, one designed to create a construct in our time."

"But who would want to do that?" Phoebe asked.

"Maybe an enemy from the future, someone who wanted to get you while you were younger and not as powerful," said Leo.

"But that doesn't make any sense," said Piper, "we're pretty strong now. If whoever did this wanted to catch us weak they should have sent their, whatever it is, back further."

Leo shrugged. "Maybe there is something important about this time we don't know about."

Phoebe sighed. "This is all very interesting, but we need to focus on finding Victor."

Leo's eyebrows drew together, confused. "What does your father have to do with this?"

"You remember I told you I could do you one better?" asked Piper.

"Yeah," said Leo warily.

"We summoned my son from the future," Phoebe said.

"What," Leo answered, "Why?"

"It turns out he's the only one who can vanquish our little construct, summoned from the future demon friend," said Piper.

Phoebe shook her head from side to side. "We aren't going to find him just to send him off to fight. We need to find him so that I can, I can…" she waved her arms vaguely. The truth is she didn't know what she would do. She stared down at her hands.

"Can you guys just give me a minute?" she asked.

Piper nodded with understanding. She and Leo walked out of the attic.

Phoebe went back to scrying. Then a thought occurred to her. Maybe she was scrying for the wrong person.

-- Change of Scene --

The robed figures chanted in ancient, forgotten rhymes. The sound was ominous, unnatural; their voices like a rusty knife scraped against stone.

Victor idly wondered why demons always did their work from dank, depressing caves in the middle of nowhere. The plus side was that there were always plenty of hiding spots. He crouched low behind a floor to ceiling stalactite and watched the demons circled around a fire. The chanting picked up; it reached a crescendo. Victor considered just throwing the vanquishing potion now to disrupt the ritual before it could be completed. But that wasn't what he wanted. That would be way too easy.

The fire flashed like a gigantic flare and then disappeared altogether. In its place stood a man, a dark haired, handsome, rough looking man clad in a dark trench coat, a man who looked a lot like Victor.

He didn't hesitate. Victor leapt from hiding and threw the potion Trent had given him. A mass of moving shadow emerged from the potion and launched like a striking cobra into the first demon. It then flowed like chain lightning from demon to demon until the entire circle of robed figures vanished to the accompaniment of agonized death screams.

Then there were two. Victor regarded his father. Cole looked back at him, obviously confused.

"Who are you?" Cole asked.

"Your worst mistake," Victor answered and charged him.

Cole extended his hand in a fireball motion, but nothing happened. Victor smiled and tackled his father to the ground. He had gone to a lot of trouble to procure the crystal sitting under his shirt around his neck. It was a kind of magical jamming device, keyed specifically to his father's powers. It would barely affect anybody else, if at all, but for his father it would make even the most basic of powers almost impossible. He hadn't been sure it was going to work until just now.

The two men struggled on the ground for a moment until Victor managed to pin Cole beneath him.

"You bastard," Victor shouted and punched him in the face, again and again. Cole managed to get a foot up and shoved against his chest. Victor landed on his back a few feet away and sprung instantly back to his feet.

Cole held out a hand in a warding motion. "Listen, I don't know who you are, but whatever it is – maybe we can talk about it."

"Talk," Victor spat. "Alright, let's talk about Phoebe." He dropped into a martial arts stance and shifted his weight suddenly forward to catch his father with a vicious round house kick to the side of the head. Cole went down hard.

"Let's talk about how you made her fall in love with you and then broke her heart, tried to kill her, betrayed her again and again," Victor shouted. "Let's talk about how you hurt your entire family, abandoned them so you could pursue your selfish plans."

Cole got slowly to his feet.

"The funny thing is, it isn't really that you're evil which got to me," Victor said. "I think that I could almost deal with that. And it isn't that you didn't care. God knows you cared. It's that you couldn't put the people you care about ahead of your addiction to power. It's that you let it destroy you." Victor smashed his father dead in the face with a lightning quick back kick, which shoved him up against the wall. Before Cole could slump, Victor grabbed him by the lapels and held him their.

"You could have been great," Victor said and punctuated the words by slamming his father back against the wall.

"You had so much potential for good in you." SLAM.

"You could have had a happy life." SLAM.

"With a wonderful family." SLAM.

"Not many people can really make a difference in this world. But you could have." SLAM

"Why did you let it all go to waste!" SLAM

"Why wasn't I more important than the addiction!" SLAM

"Why wasn't I good enough!" SLAM, SLAM, SLAM

Victor pulled out his athame, the one that had been specially enchanted to not only kill a demon, but disperse their energies – to make sure they could never come back. He held it to his father's throat. He pulled back, cocked the blade, and tensed his muscles.

"NO!" came a strangled female voice from behind him.

Cole's jaw dropped and eyes widened. "Phoebe?" he said.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey all. Once again I was overwhelmed by the positive response I got to my last update. Thank you for the support and I very much appreciate all the reviews. One of these days I'm going to do an itemized response to those of you who made more specific comments, but for now just know that I do read and think about every review before I write my next segment. So, don't hesitate to make more suggestions and extended comments.

It may be a little while till my next post because I've got family coming to town and must play the role of entertainer in chief. It's amazing how much less free time you have when other people are running around your house. But, fear not, I will continue this story.

And, without further ado:

Ch. 4

"NO!" Phoebe screamed. She was beyond shocked, beyond agonized. Cole, the love of her life, stood alive in front of her. He looked at her with an expression of utter loss and longing.

"Phoebe," Cole said.

His piercing eyes stared right into her and begged forgiveness. He seemed to have completely forgotten the other man who had beaten him bloody and stood poised to vanquish him. All that mattered was his eyes and hers, locked in time and space. A thousand sins and regrets flew between those eyes.

"Don't," Phoebe said softly and averted her gaze. She wasn't sure if she was speaking to Cole or Victor.

Victor lowered his athame, but kept Cole pushed firmly against the wall. He looked to his mother and she gasped. He had the same storm cloud eyes as Cole, the same intensity, the same pain. He was undeniably his father's son.

"I have to," Victor said softly. "It's the only way."

"Please," Phoebe said. "I can't, I just can't lose everything again."

Victor turned again to Cole, brought the athame back and forward in a killing arc. He drove it with all his strength and thrust it into the wall right beside his father's head. Then he took two steps back.

Cole stepped away from the wall and ran his hands down over his jacket in a gesture Phoebe found all too familiar.

"I didn't know you still cared," he said to her.

Phoebe glared at him. Of all the arrogance. "I didn't do it for you. I did it for him," she gestured towards Victor. "You, Cole, why can't you just leave me alone!"

"Leave you alone," Cole said. His whole manner changed from tortured to angry. "Phoebe, in case you hadn't noticed I didn't exactly come knocking down your door step. Something summoned me back against my will." He glanced angrily at Victor. "And who is he, anyway?"

"He's your s…" Phoebe started

"Sworn enemy" Victor interrupted.

Phoebe stared at him. This felt like a really bad idea, but she wasn't going to earn her son's trust by contradicting him on this.

"Funny," said Cole, "Normally people meet me before they become my sworn enemy. Do I know you?"

"You will," Victor said.

"Uh guys," said Paige. Phoebe was startled to hear her voice. She'd completely forgotten her sister was there, even though it was Paige who orbed them.

"Maybe we should continue this conversation later." She gestured over to the corner, where a man of small stature and large fedora stepped out of the shadows.

"Mace," Phoebe said.

The demonic construct smirked, inclined his head and spread his hands as though half taking a bow. Phoebe really wished she had her active powers right now. It didn't seem fair she had to face all this while at her weakest. Then again, maybe it was all punishment for abusing her powers – and her son.

"Phoebe, now," said Paige. They both threw vanquishing potions at the demon. Phoebe knew it wouldn't stop the demon, but she hoped in might slow it down until they could escape. For all Mace's reaction she may as well have thrown a water balloon.

Victor and Cole moved at the same time and interposed themselves between Phoebe and the demonic construct. They glanced at each other in surprise but then focused on Mace.

The demon blurred forward. Cole threw a punch, but Mace was no longer standing their by the time his fist extended. Mace grabbed the larger man and tossed him back as a normal man might a 5 year old. Cole landed next to Phoebe.

"Get out of here," Victor shouted. He had somehow managed to grab Mace and twist him into an arm lock. Phoebe shook her head. She was not going to let her son fight that thing alone.

Mace shimmered out of the arm lock and rematerialized behind Victor. He kicked the young man in the small of the back and sent him somersaulting forward, away from the sisters. Victor came back up in a combat crouch.

"Paige, get her out of here. She'll die if she stays. I'm not exaggerating," said Victor.

Phoebe felt a small hand on her arm. "Paige, No!" The world devolved into a familiar blue swirl. The last thing she saw was an energy ball forming in the demon's hands.

They reappeared in the attic of the manor. Piper and Leo looked up from the Book of Shadows.

"What…" started Piper.

Phoebe interrupted. "Paige, take me back there right now."

"Cole," Piper said in shock. Phoebe realized Cole had joined them for the orb. From the sour expression on his face he was none too happy about it.

"How?" Piper started again, but was again interrupted.

"We don't have time for this," Phoebe said. "Now, Paige!"

"But you heard what Victor said," Paige objected.

"Paige, I swear if you don't orb me back their right now, I'll, I'll…" Before she could articulate how exactly she would murder her sister Paige held up her hands in surrender.

"Alright, alright," Paige said and placed her hands again on Phoebe and Cole. They orbed back to the cave. No one was there.

"Oh god," Phoebe said. "Victor, Victor!" She walked around the cave frantically. "Victor, come out. We're back." She dropped to her knees. "No, this can't be happening."

"Phoebe," Cole said softly. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Get away from me," she sobbed. Cole withdrew like he'd been bitten.

"Phoebe," Paige said.

"You too," Phoebe yelled at Paige. "This is your fault." She turned her attention back to Cole, "And you, somehow it always comes back to you." Tears welled up and she could say no more.

After some time passed, she couldn't say how long, Cole spoke again. "He's not dead," Cole said.

Phoebe turned her head to regard her former husband. A spark of hope showed through the tears.

Cole said, "Death by demonic powers leaves a residue of some sort: A bit of ash, a smell, something. I would know. There's nothing here, which means the demon that attacked must have shimmered him out somewhere. If the demon wanted him dead there was nothing to stop him from finishing the job here. Your friend is alive, but probably captive. And we need to find him before it's too late."

Phoebe stood up. "Orb us back to the manor," she told Paige. Paige did so.

They reappeared in the attic, to be confronted by a very angry Piper.

"What's the big idea orbing out without an explanation," she said.

"Piper, I'll explain everything, but right now I need to talk to Cole alone for a minute," said Phoebe.

"Are you insane?" Piper asked. "I'm not leaving you alone with him."

"Not until we get some answers from him," agreed Paige. "Like why he's back and what evil scheme he's planning this time."

"Anyone else getting a sense of Déjà vu?" asked Cole.

"Shut up!" all three girls said at once. Cole's eyebrows raised and he looked over at Leo, whose expression was a strange mix of hostility and shared amusement.

The sisters continued to squabble.

"Enough," Cole finally said. He grabbed Phoebe's hand and shimmered them out.

"Let go of me!" Phoebe shouted. Cole let go. Phoebe realized where they were, the alley behind P3.

"Why did you bring us here?" Phoebe asked.

Cole smiled, even as his eyes narrowed in pain. "This is where I first laid eyes on you Phoebe," he said. "You remember; the incident with the guardian demons. I saw you there, in that very spot you're standing now, talking to Darryl and your sister. There was something about you. So brave, resilient, beautiful. And you cared. It was etched in every line of your face and posture. You really, deeply cared about what had happened and were determined to stop it. You looked like a goddess of love and avenging angel all wrapped up into one. And in that moment, I started to fall in love for the first and only time."

Phoebe didn't know what to say. She remembered the moment well because she had felt the same way. She had known instantly that he was the one. In some ways, looking at him now, she felt exactly as she did then. Like a Princess with her Prince Charming. But then there were the memories of all the pain he had caused to her, her sisters, innocents. How could she forgive all that? Even if her heart wanted nothing more than to reach out to him, her mind told her it would only lead to disaster.

"Cole," she said, "I think, I, I don't know what I think. Why did it happen the way it did?"

"It wasn't my choice Phoebe," Cole said, "The source overwhelmed me. I tried to fight it. I even tried to give up my powers, but you stopped me."

Phoebe remembered that incident well, with the strange little wizard who looked like a Ferengi or maybe a high school principle.

"No Cole," she said. "That's not good enough. Even if the devil made you do it that time, what about when you first met us and all the people you hurt before that? What about when you came back and went crazy and tried to force me to be with you by changing the entire world? Even the slightest drop of power and you start back the downward spiral." She shook her head, "I can't have this conversation with you right now, Cole. We have to find Victor."

"You love him," Cole said. "Victor. The way you reacted in the cave. You do love him, don't you?"

"Of course," Phoebe answered.

Cole was silent for a moment. "Then I'll help you find him."

"Why do you care, Cole?" Phoebe asked.

"Because you do," Cole answered. "And you deserve to have love in your life, even if it's not with me."

Phoebe realized what he was thinking and nearly gagged in revulsion. He must have seen her reaction because he looked confused again.

"What am I missing?" he asked suspiciously.

"Never mind that," Phoebe said a little too quickly. "Take me back to the manor so my sisters and I can figure this out."

Cole shimmered them back to the attic, which looked like it had been hit with a bomb. Leo, Piper, and Paige were nowhere to be seen.

"Oh my god, the children!" Phoebe yelled and ran to the nursery. Wyatt and Chris were gone too.

"What are we going to do?" she asked.


	5. Chapter 5

Greetings all. I don't know how I managed to write an update amidst the maelstrom of activity that inevitably accompanies one of my mother's visits, but I did. Whew. Wipes sweat from brow. One hopes quality did not suffer as a result. You be the judge. As always thanks for the reviews. Please keep writing; it gives me motivation to find the time. And, as promised, individual replies:

PhoebeColelovers: I know I'm evil with the cliffhangers. It is, I'll admit, a cheap literary gimic to force people to keep reading. But then, I never said I was above cheap gimicry.

Eternal Dragon101: It always bugged me that nobody on the show really gave Cole credit for how hard he resisted turning evil. Like you said, it wasn't really his fault and I always wanted the show to recognize that. Glad you liked it.

Grace1776 Jr.: Glad to be unpredictable. I thought Victor was an appropriate name because the original Victor had to deal with the pain of being powerless in a powerful family, which is a large part of my Victor's problems.

ethereal girl: See my comments above about cliffhangers. As for Phoebe, maybe she can reach Victor about Cole, but she'll have to deal with his issues with her as well. Wait and see.

Gilluin: Yup, anger management definitely not his strong suit.

cate78: You raise an interesting question. Hopefully the subsequent chapters have gone a long way towards answering it. Is there really any way to separate the effects of a child's upbringing from their fundamental "nature"? I don't know, but keep reading.

And to all the people who simply said they liked and wanted more (Cursed Girl, Baku Karangel, p4piper, EveryoneIsEntitledToMyOpinion, Wicked R, THEHUNTRESS06, buffyandspike-4ever, sn0zb0z): Thanks. I hope I haven't disappointed.

And now, our feature presentation:

Ch. 5

"_Victor you stay away from your cousin!" mom shouted. She was really mad. _

_Wyatt had been teasing him like he always did. Wyatt was mean. He said Victor was stupid because he didn't have any powers. Wyatt sometimes orbed things into the back of his head when the adults weren't paying attention, or used magic to cheat when they were playing sports. Once Wyatt cursed his toys to make them attack him in the middle of the night. _

_But it wasn't the tricks that hurt the worst. It was the words. Grown ups were always telling him that "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me," but grown-ups were stupid. He'd take broken bones any day. When Wyatt told him he must have been adopted because no Halliwell could be so powerless, Victor had punched him in the face. Of course it was right then that mom walked in._

_Mom grabbed him by the arm really hard._

_"Ow," Victor complained._

_"Does that hurt?" mom asked. Victor nodded, tears welling up. "Good," she said, "maybe that will teach you not to hurt other people."_

_"But mom, I didn't…"_

_"I don't want to hear any excuses," mom said. "What did I tell you?"_

_"That I can never lose my temper, not for any reason" Victor said ashamedly. But then his shame turned to something else, a sense of injustice. "But it's not fair. Wyatt loses his temper all the time. And he's bigger than me and has powers. He's the one who shouldn't."_

_"I was just minding my own business and Victor said it wasn't fair I had powers so he punched me," said Wyatt in his little angel voice. God Victor hated him. He somehow always managed to make adults believe him no matter what he did wrong._

_"Liar!" Victor shouted. _

_"Wyatt, honey, why don't you go out and play," mom said. Wyatt stuck his tongue out when mom wasn't looking and walked out of the room._

_Mom looked down at him sadly._

"_What am I going to do with you?" she asked._

"_Mom, you've got to believe me. Wyatt…" said Victor_

"_No, Wyatt is good now. You can't blame other people for your mistakes. You've got to learn to take responsibility for your actions," mom said._

"_But…" Victor said._

"_No more buts," mom said coldly. She looked at him distantly, like he wasn't even there. "You're just like your father. I am very disappointed in you."_

---

"You disappoint me Victor," said Trent. The demon's voice drew Victor out of his haze. The dapper black clad, white haired figure smirked at the young man. Victor was bound to a post, with his hands tied painfully behind his back. His black tea shirt was ripped and bloody.

"Yeah," Victor replied. "I do that a lot."

"It must have been hard," the demon said, "having to grow up surrounded by people who hate you."

Victor invited him to do something anatomically impossible.

"We had a deal," Trent said angrily. "I arrange for you to come back in time; you get the satisfaction of killing your father."

"Why do you care, Trent?" Victor asked. "You're not exactly a good Samaritan, so why does it matter to you if one more demon dies."

Victor wondered briefly why he himself cared. He'd planned it, visualized it so many times and ways, but in the moment of truth his mother's voice had stopped him. Somehow, despite everything, he still didn't want to disappoint her again.

"My reasons are none of your concern. You will complete the task," said Trent.

"Or what?" Victor asked. "You'll bore me to death by replaying the past." Trent was a trans-temporal demon. He existed in some ways outside of normal time, which was why he could remember having dealt with Victor in the future even though he, Trent, had not traveled through time with him. One of the demon's many powers was to evoke the past or future of others and force them to live through the events of another time, in this case the most painful events of Victor's childhood. They were more than memories and could actually leave physical marks. His torn up chest was from a time Victor had nearly been killed by a hunch backed toad demon. After that he'd begged his mom and aunts to unbind his powers. He thought Piper and Paige would have, but his mom insisted he would be in even more danger that way. She promised she would protect him, but for the first time he didn't believe her. Even the great Phoebe Halliwell could not be there all the time. It was then that he realized, finally and irrevocably, that the only person in the world he could truly rely on was himself.

"No," Trent answered. "It is clear you have a nearly infinite capacity to wallow in you own misery."

"Oh good, then you can skip right to the part where you say some variation of 'join me or die' and then proceed to the execution," said Victor.

"Victor," Trent said, his tone reproving. "I'm wounded you think me so predictable and cliché. Perhaps I should also lay out my evil plan while I'm at it?" He seemed to find this genuinely amusing. "No I think I'll cut right to the chase." He snapped his fingers and Mace shimmered in. He held a dark haired baby in his arms.

"Your family is captive and I will murder one of them every hour until Cole dies. I think I'll start with little Chris here," he said with a cold smile.

Victor looked at his cousin in horror. Chris was the only member of his family he liked, the only one who always treated him like he belonged. Trent's smile widened as he took in Victor's reaction. He snapped his fingers again and Mace shimmered out. He gestured to Victor's binds and they came undone.

"Time's a-ticking," said Trent.

-- Change of Scene –

"What do we do?" Phoebe asked. She wasn't really talking to him, but it was Cole that answered.

"We figure out who is behind this, take them down, and save your family," Cole said confidently.

"How?" Phoebe turned from the nursery to regard him. "I don't have a vanquish, or my sisters, or my active powers."

"It'll be alright," said Cole.

"How will it be alright Cole?" she said, voice rising. "How is anything going to be alright?"

"Because," Cole said and put a hand on her shoulder. "You're a Halliwell and a Charmed One. You've faced down the worst evil has to offer and you're still standing. You can do this Phoebe."

She looked down almost shyly and then back into his eyes. "Promise?" she asked.

"Hope to die," he answered.

Phoebe placed a hand on his cheek, felt the stubble, the strong jaw line. Before she could think about it she pressed against him, her mouth on his. She felt his hands run down her back. He kissed her back urgently, like a starving man. He pushed her against the wall. But then he suddenly pulled away.

"We can't do this, not now," Cole said. His voice was rough.

Phoebe wanted to object, wanted to continue with what they'd been doing. She viscerally, passionately, wanted Cole. But he was right. She took a moment to compose herself.

"We need to find them," Phoebe said. "I'll try scrying and the call a lost witch spell, but I somehow doubt that's going to work. I'm sure Mace has them somewhere shielded. Why don't you go try to shake something up from one of your…contacts, and I'll check the book."

"No," Cole said. "I'm not leaving your side until this is over."

Phoebe started to open her mouth to argue, but Cole interrupted. "Not negotiable," he said.

Phoebe couldn't say why, but she felt better somehow. It was crazy; this was Cole. She hadn't forgiven him, and god – what had she been doing kissing him. Had she lost her mind? But somehow she felt, somehow she knew, that she could trust him in this.

They returned to the attic. As predicted all the usual methods for finding lost people failed and after a couple hours they were no closer to finding anyone when they started. She checked the book but eventually threw up her hands in frustration.

"This is pointless," she said. "We know Mace isn't in here."

"Maybe you shouldn't be looking for Mace," Cole suggested. "Maybe you should look for Victor. I get the sense he's somehow the key to all this."

"I already tried looking for him along with the rest of the family," Phoebe said absently, her concentration still on flipping through the book. "Mace must have had help to take Paige, Piper and Leo all at the same time." She looked up at him. "If we can somehow figure out who helped maybe we can…" she stopped at the expression on Cole's face. She had seen Cole angry, depressed, crazy, and indifferent – but this was the first time she had seen him look shocked. His face paled and his eyes were wide as saucers.

"Victor is our son," he said in a tone of revelation.

Phoebe's jaw dropped. "How did you…?" she started.

"He looks like both of us, he knows me well enough to hate me, he made a cryptic reference that I'd know him in the future, he has the same name as your grandfather, you said you love him, and you just called him family," Cole summarized the evidence like the attorney he was.

Phoebe mentally replayed her last few sentences and then mentally kicked herself. No one had ever accused Cole of being stupid. The sister's had never figured out Chris even though they knew he was from the future. It had taken a vision before she'd put the pieces together. Yet Cole figured Victor out within hours. She thought about denying it; she could claim he was a distant cousin or something. But she knew Cole well enough to realize he wouldn't be fooled.

"Wait," Cole said, "That means you and I…"

Phoebe laughed nervously and showed all her teeth. "Let's not go there right now."

He nodded, and looked away. "Why does my son hate me?" he asked slowly.

Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know. Something about the future. It sounds like I, I didn't trust him." She looked away in shame. "But I don't know what you did. If it makes you feel any better he hates me too."

"No, that actually makes me feel even worse," Cole said. He said it not like a criticism, or an indictment, but as a simple truth. His fists clinched and he stared at them as though they held answers. "I know what it's like to grow up as an outsider, to never really belong. It's not something I'd wish on anybody, least of all my son."

Cole reached in his coat pocket and pulled out the athame Victor left in the wall next to his head. He'd grabbed it when they returned to the scene.

"Phoebe, this was Victor's. Maybe you can get a premonition," he said and held it out to her.

"Actually my powers haven't been…" she stopped before she could complete the thought as she touched the athame and the familiar but long absent feeling of premonition swept over her.

_Victor attacked Cole relentlessly with a series of kicks and strikes. Cole blocked or dodged most of the blows, but was obviously overmatched. He backed up, eyes darting around as though looking for an escape route. Victor's face was sad, not at all the mask of righteous fury she'd seen in the cave. Cole's mouth was closed, his expression grim. Having run out of room to retreat, Cole started throwing punches. The attacks were strong and fast, but Cole fought like a man who had never had to rely on unarmed combat. Victor easily blocked each blow and then used the momentum from Cole's punch to twist him around into a painful looking arm lock. Cole was forced to his knees and bent double at the waste. Victor's eyes tensed. He mouthed 'forgive me' and then plunged an athame into Cole's heart through the back. Cole disintegrated and, a few seconds later, Victor faded out._

Phoebe gasped and found herself on the floor. Cole knelt over her, concern etched into his features.

"Phoebe, what's wrong? I've never seen you go out that long for a vision before," he said.

"We need to get out of here," Phoebe said.

Cole nodded and started to shimmer them out. That was one of the things she loved about him; he trusted her and knew when to save the questions. Unfortunately the shimmer abruptly stopped and returned them to the attic.

"What," Phoebe started when she heard a familiar voice from the door way.

"Hi," said Victor, "catch you at a bad time?"


	6. Chapter 6

Greetings faithful readers. Thank you all for sticking with me and especially to those of you who reviewed. Rather than posting review responses with the story, I think I'm just going to reply to people directly. So, for those of you who reviewed you'll get a response from me shortly (probably before you read this). I'm not certain, but I think this may be the penultimate chapter. I could continue it further, but I generally think it's better to get to the meat of a story, the part you really think is important, rather than draw it out for the sake of drawing it out. Besides, that way I can move on to other story ideas. So, expect the dramatic conclusion within the next week or so. It will probably be a particularly long installment. Please help me with the finale by writing any thoughts you have on how you'd like to see it end. Until then, enjoy:

Ch. 6

Phoebe had never been hurt so deeply by her powers. The vision was so raw, so fresh. Her son was going to kill Cole and in so doing he would commit suicide. And now, before she could even begin to recover, the scene played out in real time. What good was a vision if you didn't have time to act on it?

This was all her fault, Phoebe thought. Past, future and present; she was the common denominator in all this grief. She had caused the pain that brought these two men she cared about to the brink. It was hopeless

She was brought out of her paralysis by the sound of Cole's voice.

"You don't have to do this," he told Victor. "You have a choice."

She didn't catch the context, but the words sank through her despair. Cole hadn't said anything in her vision. He was already changing things, probably because he read the horror in her. And the words: a choice, free will – of course. Free will was the balance of good and evil, the soul of magic. She had faced more than her share of tragedies. She had faced demons, both literal and figurative and yet she was still standing. She would be damned if she would let destiny decide the fate of her family.

Victor twisted Cole's arm around, just like in the vision. His voice mouthed "forgive me" and he started to bring down the athame. Phoebe had already launched herself across the room in anticipation of this moment. At the last possible instant she shoved Cole out of Victor's grip and interposed herself between them.

Victor frantically pulled the blade back and barely avoided taking his mother's head off. "MOM!" he shouted, more in fear than anger. "Get out of the way!"

"No," said Phoebe. She grabbed Victor by the wrist and pulled the blade of the athame to her own chest. He glared.

"If you're going to break my heart by killing your father and yourself then don't leave me to pick up the pieces. Put me out of my misery. Kill me too," she said. Her eyes glistened wetly, but her voice was firm. The fierceness of her determination made the small woman seem much bigger than her actual size. She was committed, wholly and without reservation; this was no bluff.

"It's clear we failed you in the future, your father and I," Phoebe said. "We didn't give you the childhood you deserved. I am more ashamed of myself for letting you grow up feeling unloved than for anything I've ever done." At this she did audibly choke up before recovering herself. "I don't know exactly what all I did, or what Cole did. I don't know my justifications. I'm sure I had what I thought were good reasons at the time. But I can see now that I was wrong. I love you Victor. I know that in my heart even though we barely know each other. And if I become the kind of person who hurts the people she loves, then I don't think I want to go on."

Victor's glare faltered as she spoke. His lip began to tremble and suddenly the big grizzled twenty something man looked very much like a lost little boy. He dropped the athame and fell to his knees crying. Phoebe crouched to hold him and made gentle shooshing noises until her boy stopped shaking. After awhile, probably only seconds though it felt like much longer, Victor pulled himself back together, gently disengaged from his mother and they both rose slowly to their feat.

"We don't have to accept the future the way it was," said Phoebe. "We still have free will. We can save you and your dad. I know we can."

Victor looked thoughtful for a moment. He wiped his eyes and then smiled. "Just like Chris?" he said.

Phoebe nodded slowly, but he must have seen her surprise because he continued.

"Aunt Piper told us, all the kids, the story about Chris. It was just after his 18th birthday. She said she struggled with it, but decided he had the right to know and he decided the rest of us did too." Victor looked off, remembering. "I think everyone else was shocked. But to me, it just made so much sense – you know? The way Chris always seemed to understand, I mean really understand, even though he got just as much attention as Wyatt and had two perfect parents and everything. It's like some part of him remembered the other life and he saw what he'd gone through, saw some of himself in me. It also explained why Wyatt was always such an evil bastard."

Phoebe's face fell. "You mean…?"

"No," Victor answered. "He's not really evil, not in the evil global overlord sense anyway. He was just a bit of a jerk when we were kids. Chris succeeded in his mission." His eyes grew even more distant. "I sometimes wonder though, what it was like in the other timeline: if it was better or worse for me; if I even existed."

Phoebe said nothing but was terrified at the way he said it, like he genuinely thought he might have been better off in the evil world. Worse yet was wistful way he talked about the prospect of his non-existence.

"Is your life really that bad?" she asked, voice shaking. "Do you really wish you'd never been born?"

"To die: to sleep; no more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation most devoutly to be wished," Victor quoted. Phoebe shuttered. She did not want her son to wind up like Hamlet. Victor looked over to Cole, who had been watching the exchange in silence. Cole finally picked himself off the ground.

"He knows?" asked Victor. Phoebe nodded.

"Victor," Cole said, "Did I…hurt you or your mother?" His voice was angry, but it was clear that anger was directed inward.

"It's not so much what you did, but what you didn't do," said Victor. "When you were around you were a great father. You and mom would be happy and for awhile, a little while, and I could almost imagine we were a normal family. But it never lasted. Inevitably, something would always set you off. You would "need" to embrace some evil power, just to save us of course – or at least that's how you justified it -- and then mom would boot you out again or try to vanquish you. You would be gone for months, sometimes more than a year on end, and just when I started to get over it you were back. You would promise that this time was different and, despite everything, I always believed you. Every single time I believed you and got my hopes up. I was sure that 'this time is it, this time he won't leave again'. But you always did. You were never strong enough to fight your addiction to power and the power always corrupted you. Mom, afraid I'd be as weak as you, afraid I was evil, made sure I was never tempted with power by denying it to me."

Cole looked down for a moment before meeting his son's gaze. "You're wrong about one thing," he said.

Victor's voice went immediately from sad to angry. "Oh and what's that?" he grated out.

"Your mother didn't keep you away from power because she was afraid you were evil; she did it because she was afraid she would lose you. She did it because she loved you," Cole said.

Victor started to reply, but his jaw worked noiselessly. He took a step back from the both of them and started to turn away. Phoebe stepped forward and put a hand on her son's shoulder.

"But by stripping you of your powers I made you feel like your own mother thought you were evil," Phoebe said. She lifted his downcast chin until she could look him in the eye. "I promise you," she said. "I won't make that same mistake again. I won't let that future happen."

"Nor I," said Cole thickly. "I don't care if I have to take a power stripping potion every morning with breakfast with the entire family watching. I won't do that to you." Chris looked to his father. Phoebe took a step back and the three just regarded each-other.

"I guess if Chris can change the future then so can we," Victor finally said. Then his eyes widened. "Oh my god! How could I let myself loose track." He looked at his watch, then back at Cole. "If I don't kill you Mace is going to murder baby Chris in just over five minutes."


	7. Chapter 7

This is it folks. This is the conclusion. I have had great fun with this project and I hope you all have too. You have been fantastic and your support has kept me going. Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy the final chapter.

Ch. 7 –

"I'd volunteer to die," Cole said, "but aside from the obvious impact on you I wouldn't trust any demon to keep their word. Once you're out of the picture Mace is going to kill the rest of the family. They're a threat. Smart demons eliminate threats before they become problems."

Victor knew his father was right. Though most demons were almost unbelievably stupid, Trent was a clear exception and Mace was his lackey. Of course Trent wouldn't keep his word. He had no reason to, except honor. In the heat of the moment and the uncertainty about his own feelings, Victor had not thought it through. He'd been prepared to risk everything, sacrifice all, on the word of a manipulative demon. It was a humbling moment, and he couldn't figure out how to fix this. He needed his parents.

"What do we do?" Victor asked.

"We save them," his mom answered confidently. Victor looked to her with hope. "First of all, if this is going to work your father needs his powers back. Whatever you're doing to suppress them, stop it."

Victor pulled the amulet over his head and handed it to her. She held it speculatively for a moment. Her expressive face visibly struggled for a second before hardening into resolution. She tossed it to the floor and stomped on it. A small burst of energy radiated from under her heel. When she drew back her foot the amulet was broken.

Cole held a hand out and an energy ball appeared. He nodded to Phoebe. "Now what?" he asked.

"You've been working with a demon the whole time you've been here," Phoebe said to Victor. It was not a question, nor was it a condemnation. Victor was impressed with her deductive skills, or maybe her empathy had returned. Either way he was grateful she did not sound angry. He simply nodded.

"Mace doesn't strike me as the mastermind type," she continued, "So I'm guessing you worked with his boss."

"That's right," Victor answered, "His name is Trent. He's the one who summoned Mace as a way of forcing you guys to summon me. As far as I can tell Trent can move fragments through time, but not whole people. The fragments fade and lack a will of their own. They just replay the events of the past or future. He needed me whole and interacting with this time, which is why he needed the Charmed Ones to do it."

"You must have had some means of contacting him once you got to our time," Phoebe said.

Victor nodded.

"Then you need to contact him now. Tell him you captured Cole and are ready to kill him, but you'll only finish the job once you know your family is safe."

"He won't like that," Victor observed.

"He won't have a choice. He wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of bringing you into this if he thought he could kill Cole some other way. Tell him you'll meet him at some neutral location to make the exchange and tell him there better not be one hair harmed on Chris's head or the deal is off. Make sure he brings the whole family," Phoebe said.

Victor thought about it. It just might work. He turned to his father. "Shimmer me to the alley behind 'The Underworld' dance club." He glanced at his watch. Two minutes.

"Wait," Phoebe said. She handed him the athame he'd left in the cave. It was one of five he kept on his body at all times, but the only one with the energy dispersal enchantment to permanently destroy a demon.

He took it and turned back to Cole. "Right now," he said

Cole reached out a hand and shimmered them out.

They reappeared in the dark alley where they intended. Fortunately no one was around.

"I always thought this place was a bit tacky," Cole observed.

"Hide here in the alley until I return," Victor said. "If I'm not back in five minutes and I want you to take this athame…" he handed Cole the enchanted weapon, "and come charging in to rescue me."

His father smiled. "Count on it," he said.

Victor ran to the end of an alley and then shifted to a rapid walk as he came around to the front. Once again there was a line of people waiting and he walked to the front. Against all odds the seemingly brainless bouncer actually recognized him.

"You here to see Mr. Trent," he asked.

"That's right," Victor said. "Tell him it's about the deal."

The bouncer spoke into a headset and then waived Victor through. The demon accompanied him as before and it did not escape Victor's notice when two other burly demons fell into line behind him. They led him once more to Trent's glass enclosed office overlooking the dance floor.

The dapper white haired demon frowned, and looked pointedly to his watch.

"Little Chris's time is up, Victor," he said. "You know the deal."

"I'm changing the deal," Victor answered. "I've got Cole bound and powerless, but I won't finish the job until I'm sure my family is safe."

The demon smirked. "Touching, but disappointing, and here I thought you were a man of your word." He leaned forward over his desk. "But you don't seem to understand who has the power here. I only have to think about it and your cousin dies."

Victor steeled himself. It was strange to feel so afraid. Being borderline suicidal does have the advantage of eliminating a lot of your personal safety concerns. But he was afraid now. He had other people to be afraid for and that was far worse than any threat to himself. It was almost impossible not to show the emotion he felt, but he knew it would hurt his negotiating position. He projected calm indifference. "If you had the power, you wouldn't need me. So let's stop playing games and get down to business."

Trent regarded him angrily. "Go on," he said in a dangerously soft voice.

"We meet on neutral ground. I bring Cole and you bring Piper, Paige, Leo, Wyatt and Chris. Then you set them free and I kill Cole," Victor said.

"So, let me get this straight," Trent said sarcastically. "I give up all my leverage in exchange for nothing. You do drive a hard bargain Victor."

Victor had anticipated this.

"Fine," he said. "Just bring them so that I can see that they're all safe and well. Then I'll kill Cole."

Trent got a far away look that Victor recognized as attempting to see fragments of the future. Victor prayed the demon didn't see what he was planning.

"Cole alone," Trent said. "You bring no one else, and I pick the ground."

Victor nodded. "So long as it's not in the underworld or one of your usual haunts, that's fine with me." Then they worked out the details.

-- Change of Scene --

"Where did Victor go?" Phoebe asked.

"He said he needed to do some thinking," Cole answered. "I'll rendezvous with him just before the meet."

They were in an underground lair. It was one of Cole's old safe-houses. They figured the manor wouldn't be safe in case Trent got impatient. They also figured the last place anyone would look for a Charmed One was in the underworld. After Victor made the arrangements they had spent a few hours planning and making preparations. Now all they had to do was wait.

"I'm worried about him," Phoebe said.

"Me too," Cole answered.

"It seems wrong somehow. Shouldn't we be shielding him from danger instead of putting him in more danger?" she asked.

"It's his decision to make. He's a brave young man," Cole said. "He takes after his mother that way."

She smiled at that and laid her arms around his neck. But her expression was still worried. "Even if we get through this and even if we can correct the mistakes we made with him last time, our lives are still always going to be strange and dangerous. Do we really have the right to bring a child into that world?"

"Well Phoebe, you know better than anyone what that life is like," Cole said. "Do you regret the way you've lived it?"

"No," Phoebe admitted, "but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it."

"If you had it to do all over and you could do it this time without the magic; a normal, safe, mortal life, would you choose that?" he asked.

Phoebe thought about it. If they'd been mortal Prue would probably still be alive. Phoebe still felt the ache of her sister's loss like it was yesterday. That was the single biggest, unrecoverable wound that magic had inflicted on them. But then she tried to imagine Prue never having been a witch, never saving all those innocents, never fighting evil. Prue wouldn't have wanted that.

"Prophecy may have told of you and your sister's power," Cole said as though reading her mind, "but it was you and your sister's choice that made the prophecy real." He smiled proudly down at her. "Do you think a bunch of old men and women in goofy robes mapped out your destiny in advance? You created your own destiny because you cared so much about the world that you were willing to put yourselves on the line to save it. Do you think I love you so much because you were destined to be great? I love you so much because you choose to be great every single day."

Phoebe felt her eyes begin to water. If it weren't for magic she wouldn't be the person she was. And for all that magic had taken away they had made a good life for themselves, such as it was. Without magic Leo would have died a forgotten hero, noble but tragic and with no chance to go on doing good. He and Piper would have never been married, which would mean no Wyatt, no baby Chris, and no smart-alecky whitelighter from the future to give them one of the richest years of their lives. Worst of all she would have never met Cole who, despite all the pain and recriminations, was still the man who taught her what love really meant.

"No," Phoebe finally said, "I'd choose to do it all over again." And then she kissed Cole with two years of pent up feelings. Then they did more than kiss. She made one more choice for the future, one built on hope for a better world, and Victor Turner Halliwell came into existence.

-- Change of Scene --

Cole shimmered in next to him. Victor was relieved. It would only be a couple minutes more till Trent and company arrived.

"Cut it a bit close, didn't you?" Victor asked.

Cole looked uncomfortable. "We had some last minute, um, planning to do," Cole said.

Victor eyed his father suspiciously but decided he didn't want to know.

"Hands behind your back," Victor ordered. Cole complied and Victor fixed shackled to his wrists and ankles. They looked impressively restrictive, but of course he could shimmer out of them in an instant. Hopefully Trent would assume Cole remained powerless. Victor was banking on the fact that even a very intelligent demon could never fully understand a family dynamic, and could therefore not anticipate that Victor would be willing to forgive a man he was willing to kill days ago. He would certainly never guess Victor would give up his greatest advantage over a long term enemy. No, he would assume Cole's powers were as shackled as his limbs. Or at least that's what Victor kept telling himself.

Victor looked out over the old abandoned cell block. He'd brought a flashlight but it did little to dispel the shadows that loomed from every corner. Alcatraz was a creepy place, especially at night. Long rows of barred cells stretched off on either side into the darkness. Victor felt a shiver run down the back of his neck. The oppression and suffering were almost tangible in the air.

Then Trent and a dozen demonic bodyguards appeared.

Victor held a knife to his father's back.

"I've got what you came for," Victor said. "Now show me my family."

A moment later Mace appeared along with shimmering magical cage. Its glow cast a reddish glare over the darkly lit cell block. Piper, Paige, Leo and the kids were inside. They looked dirty and a little beaten up, but otherwise okay.

"Kill Cole," Trent said, "and then I will free your family."

"What assurances do I have you'll actually free them once Cole is dead?" Victor asked.

"You have my word," the demon answered.

"That's not good enough," Victor answered. "Free the kids now as a sign of good faith."

"I'm going to order Mace to eat the children if you do not put that athame through your father's heart," Trent answered. Mace's expression looked greedy, like a fat child offered a particularly delectable treat.

"Alright," Victor said, "I just don't want to have any more lost witches calling on my conscience." Trent furrowed his brow at the odd wording. Victor looked at Piper significantly. She raised her eyebrows to indicate she got the not so subtle message.

Victor growled loudly as he raised the athame slowly, dramatically, and held it aloft behind his fathers back. He only needed to distract the demons, keep their eyes and ears riveted on him for a few seconds. He could see the sisters mouthing the words of the call a lost witch spell. Then he flung the blade as hard as he could at Trent's forehead, where it embedded itself with a wet crunch. Trent appeared unfazed, and calmly removed it. He didn't seem to notice Phoebe appear in a swirl of light within the cage.

"NOW!" Victor shouted. He pulled the two potions his mother had prepared from his trench coat and hurled them amidst the demons. He closed his eyes, covered his ears and looked away. He hoped Phoebe had time to tell the others to do the same. Even through his hands the sound was deafening and the light through his eye lids was like staring at the sun. He blinked back the after image and turned around to charge the demons. To his gratification, most of them were staggering and off balance; all except Trent and Mace that is. Cole shimmered out of his bonds and started taking out demons like ducks in a shooting gallery.

Victor had eyes only for Mace. He launched into a flying kick which should have sent the demon flying into the bars of the nearest cell. But before he could get there the demon shimmered a few feet sideways and Victor came down awkwardly. Before he could regain his balance the demon grabbed him from behind with inhuman strength. Victor lashed out with a desperate back kick, which broke the hold. He knew if the stronger opponent managed to grapple him he was done for.

He threw a round house kick, a back punch. He flowed through strikes, kicks, and sweeps with the grace and speed of a life time of practice. Almost any human opponent and most demons would have been overmatched. Mace, however, was like nothing else. He was too strong, too fast, too good at shimmering out of the way of Victor's best blows. Even worse, more demons had shimmered in to replace the ones vanquished and it looked like Cole was reeling under the combined assault of Trent and his flunkies. Victor started in Cole's direction to help out and Mace took advantage of his momentary distraction. The little demon grabbed Victor by the throat. Mace's face twisted into sadistic smile as he lifted Victor into the air. Victor's head pounded and his vision narrowed to white. He dimly registered the sisters chanting in unison.

Suddenly, something like a bolt of lightning washed over his entire body. Mace was thrown back from the discharge. Trent and the demons fighting Cole had stopped what they were doing to look over at him. Victor got slowly to his feet. He felt different somehow. Then a moment later the knowledge hit him. His powers, the ones he's always wondered about, the ones he'd always been denied; it was all there, everything. Even better he somehow knew exactly how to use them. His mother was a genius.

He threw a blindingly fast series of punches and kicks at the demons clustered around his father. This may have seemed odd, since they were more than ten feet away, except that each blow projected an after image that carried across the intervening space and slammed into the demons. His power was a form of astral projection combined with his father's demonic energy. He did not project his entire body, nor did he slip into unconsciousness when he used the power. Rather he projected just the striking limb, which produced the oddly disconcerting visual of a half dozen glowing arms and legs flying across the room. When they hit their target, the astral image faded and released both the kinetic energy from Victor's strike and the same kind of demonic energy used to infuse Cole's energy balls. The combined effect created a lot of flying flaming demon debris.

Then he turned his attention back to Mace. The little demon had recovered his surprise and produced two athames from somewhere. Victor did the same and blade clashed against the blade with the rhythm of a metal drum solo. After a dizzying flurry the two locked blades and pushed each other in a contest of main strength. Amazingly, Victor realized, he was now just as strong as the demon. With a grunt he threw Mace back and then launched into the air, literally – he levitated just like his mother -- and threw astral side kicks at the demon's head so quickly that ten projections were en route before the first one hit him. He then dived fists first, superman style, and slammed into Mace. Both athame blades sank into the demon's chest up to their hilts and the force of Victor's charge drove them both back against the bars of a nearby cell. Mace glared at him with feral fury. Victor realized he could channel his father's destructive energy directly through the blades and into to Mace's chest. He did so. He poured the energy, pure and raw, straight into the demon. With an inhuman snarl Mace exploded.

Victor felt drained and weak, but he couldn't relax yet. He turned to see his father and Trent engaged in combat. He moved to help but Cole saw him and waived him off. The Charmed Ones had somehow broken free of their cage, probably the old P3 spell if Victor had to guess, but Cole waived them off as well.

"This is my fight," he said. "For some reason he did all this to get to me. And I want to know why."

Trent looked around and seemed to realize all of his followers were dead. He tried to shimmer out, but Cole caught him and held him in place. Cole pushed him against the wall and held the athame Victor gave him to the demon's chest.

"Why?" Cole demanded.

"Simplest reason in the world," Trent said, suddenly calm. "Self-preservation. But I can see now how wrong I was to be worried." He broke Cole's hold and shoved him away. "I can sense it now; you don't have the power to stop me." He approached Cole menacingly, but Cole shimmered behind him and put the athame blade through the back of his neck.

"Fool," Trent said, spinning around. He looked un-phased despite the metal blade protruding from his throat. "No simple athame can destroy me. I exist in all times." But then something started to happen, a kind of luminescent energy extended from the blade and gradually suffused the demon's body. Trent's expression went from smug to worried and then terrified as his whole body started to shake with red and white currents of power.

"No, it's not possible," he said.

"The funny thing is," Victor said, "I never could have gotten that blade without your help." Trent's eyes widened in recognition.

"No, that was to destroy Cole," he said.

"I think I see what this was all about now," Victor said. "You must have seen, in one of your time fragments, that my father would kill you. So you arranged all of this, recruited me, summoned Mace, sent me through time, helped me get the magical artifacts, all to kill him before he could kill you. But all along you were causing the chain of events that led to your own demise." Victor shook his head ruefully. "If you'd done nothing, you would have been fine."

"NO!" the demon shouted again. Parts of his body were starting to boil away.

"I almost feel like I should be thanking you," Cole told the demon. "If it weren't for you I would never have gotten a second first chance with my son."

Trent cackled. "Don't you realize, Cole, your son is already dead."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Victor asked.

The demon looked to him and smiled through his obvious pain.

"Mace was linked to you in more than one way. I created him from your pain and hatred. He was a part of you, a part of your soul. And a person can't survive long when a part their soul is on the other side." He cackled again before exploding in a final violent burst of radiance.

Victor's fatigue redoubled. He felt a tearing pain in his chest. He looked to his mother.

"It was me all along. I'm sorry," he said. And then fell to the ground.

-- Change of Scene --

Phoebe ran down stairs from the attic. After Victor collapsed Leo had orbed them back to the manor, where the Phoebe and her sisters had been trying desperately to come up with a way to reintegrate Victor's soul.

Her son lay on the couch, pale and covered in sweat. Cole stood at the end of the couch, arms crossed in helpless frustration. Leo knelt over Victor's still form, trying to heal. She looked at him hopefully, but he shook his head.

"This is beyond my power," Leo said sadly, and stood up.

"Well what good is having an elder in the family if you can't even save my son?" Phoebe shouted. Leo looked down in shame. "Do you have any idea what it's like to watch your own child just fade away in front of you?"

Leo's eyes flashed with an anger rarely seen there. "Yes," he answered simply.

Phoebe realized what she'd just said. "I'm so sorry Leo; that was a stupid thing to say. It's just…"

"I understand," he said.

She nodded. There was nothing else to say. She looked at Victor again. He was twitching in his unconscious state and seemed to be getting weaker by the minute. She looked to her sisters. "Let's do this," she said.

They chanted in unison:

"_Power of the witches rise;_

_Course unseen across the skies;_

_Lost Victor's soul, we summon thee;_

_To Victor's flesh, return to he."_

Phoebe watched Victor anxiously, waiting for any sign it was working. A rolling ball of black, ugly energy came hovering through the ceiling and settled down just over Victor's body. It started to settle into him. Victor's eyes flew open.

"NO!" he shouted and held up a hand. He seemed to be holding it at bay. "I don't want that part of me back."

"Victor you have to take it," Cole said. "You'll die if you don't. I know it's hard to deal with your demonic side, but we'll help you threw it."

"You don't understand," Victor said. He stared at the dark energy with horror. "That's not my demonic part. Remember what Trent said, that's a part of my soul, my human soul. It is a concentration of everything that has been twisted by hatred, anger and fear. Having that out of me, or at least, partially out of me, helped me make the choice to help you guys. It explains why I didn't just kill you like I planned to." He visibly struggled and pushed the energy away. It dispersed.

"Okay," Phoebe said, "we can just do the spell again. But this time you can't stop us Victor."

He turned to regard her and her heart broke. There was such sad determination there. "No mom, this is my choice. I don't want to go into eternity hating you."

"You don't have to go into eternity at all," Cole said with a touch of anger. "Pain can be dealt with, in time. So long as you're still alive at least there's a chance."

Victor turned back to his father. "You may be right," he said softly, "but I'm tired, dad, so very tired and I don't know if I have the strength to fight myself. I don't want to be responsible for what will happen if I'm too weak. It will be better for everyone if I'm just gone. This is the life I've chosen for myself." He turned back to his mom, weakly, as though that much movement was almost too much. "Don't let this destroy you mom. If you change who you are or what you believe in, that's how the bad guy's win. Don't ever stop being Phoebe Halliwell." His voice started to fade and he seemed to lose focus. "Life is just a dream," he said.

Tear's streamed down Phoebe's face. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be watching yet another loved one die.

"Mommy," Victor called softly. It was a small voice, a child's voice. She knelt by the couch and lay her head down on his chest.

"Yes sweetheart?" she said through her tears.

"Tell me I'm a good boy," he said faintly.

Phoebe sobbed. "You're a very good boy," she said. "In fact I think you're the best boy in the whole wide world."

He smiled. "I love you mommy," he said. Then he went silent and seemed to fade.

"NO!" Phoebe shouted. "No, no no! You cannot do this to me. You cannot give up on yourself."

He didn't seem to hear her. Then his eyes suddenly lit up. "Chris!" he asked in genuine wonder. His brow furrowed in concentration, like he was listening to someone. This went on for a few seconds. Then he looked back at Phoebe.

"I don't want to get up yet. I changed my mind. Can't I dream just a little bit longer?" he said.

He was delirious, but Phoebe desperately hoped he meant what she thought he did. She turned to her sisters, who were both openly weeping. "Again, now!"

They quickly chanted the spell. The dark energy came back and descended into Victor, this time without protest.

Victor returned to himself, from the bright place where he'd spoken with Chris. Victor realized now it must have been the Chris who traveled through time. He told Victor how much he wished he had the chance Victor did, to come back, to see his parents, how he would do anything to ease their pain at his loss. He told him the hardest and bravest decision he would ever make was to live in this world. Victor chose to come back. It was not a decision without consequences. He felt the darkness inside of him, but his will was still his own and he would fight it.

Victor opened his eyes and blinked against the brightness. He looked to each of his concerned family members and settled finally on the tear streaked smiling face of his mother.

"So much for tragic destiny," he said at last. The family descended on Victor in a crush of hugs and laughter.


End file.
